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Legendary sport present host Bob Barker on the final taping of “The Worth is Proper Million Greenback Spectacular,” in 2007. Barker died at XX.
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Barker spent 18 years internet hosting TV’s Fact or Penalties. That quiz present included stunts — like this one from 1963.
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Barker promotes the Match of Roses Parade on October 17, 1972.
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Barker began internet hosting The Worth is Proper in 1972. A photograph from that yr reveals that contestants have been as excited then as they’re at present.
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Barker, proven at house along with his spouse, Dorothy Jo Barker, in 1977, was a fighter pilot within the Navy earlier than he began his broadcasting profession.
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The easy format of The Worth Is Proper — unusual folks attempt to guess the worth of unusual objects — remained primarily unchanged for greater than 40 years.
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Miss Universe Deborah Carthy-Deu, of San Juan, smiles as she is topped by Barker after the top of the 1985 pageant. Barker, a dedicated animal rights advocate, hosted Miss USA and Miss Universe for over twenty years, resigning when producers refused to cease handing out fur coats as a part of prize packages.
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The Worth Is Proper celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 1991, however Barker was simply getting began. Clockwise from prime: Rod Roddy, Janice Pennington, Holly Hallstrom, Barker, Dian Parkinson and Kathleen Bradley.
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Barker waves to the viewers throughout the taping of his closing episode of The Worth Is Proper. He spent 35 years internet hosting the present that secured his fame.
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Bob Barker, left, and present The Worth is Proper host Drew Carey pose for a photograph on set after a particular look that celebrated Barker’s ninetieth birthday.
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Recreation present host Bob Barker has died on the age of 99.
“It’s with profound unhappiness that we announce that the World’s Biggest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” publicist Roger Neal mentioned in a press release.
Barker, whose profession spanned greater than eight a long time, was finest generally known as the longtime host of The Worth Is Proper on CBS. In 2002, he broke Johnny Carson’s report for steady performances on the identical community TV present.
Barker started internet hosting The Worth is Proper when Richard Nixon was within the White Home. He remained with the present for 35 years earlier than retiring in 2007. Even on the finish of his profession, the then-80-something host was nonetheless taping 5 reveals per week.
At a press convention held on his final day, Barker mentioned as a lot as he seemed ahead to retirement, on the brink of tape that closing present wasn’t simple.
“I actually had myself labored up in an emotional state,” he mentioned, “and I believed, I’ve obtained to go over there and do that present — straighten your self out, Barker!”
Born in 1923, Barker grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the place his mom was a schoolteacher. He by no means thought his future profession would require cake make-up, the glare of digicam lights or video games like Plinko and Cliffhanger.
“I wished to pitch for the Saint Louis Cardinals. That was my dream,” Barker mentioned. “And the one factor that prevented it was a complete lack of expertise.”
As a substitute, Barker pitched in with the World Struggle II effort. He served as a Navy fighter pilot, though he by no means noticed fight. After the struggle, he returned to complete faculty and took a job internet hosting a radio present in Los Angeles. That ultimately launched his profession, and his subsequent job was internet hosting TV’s Fact or Penalties.
That gig lasted for 18 years, twice the common lifespan for many TV stars — and for Barker, it was only a warm-up.
Bob Barker poses amongst a sea of prizes on the 6,000th taping of The Worth Is Proper, in 2004. Barker, who hosted the present for many years, was twice named TV’s “Most Sturdy Performer” by Guinness World Data. Amanda Edwards/Getty Photos disguise caption
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Bob Barker poses amongst a sea of prizes on the 6,000th taping of The Worth Is Proper, in 2004. Barker, who hosted the present for many years, was twice named TV’s “Most Sturdy Performer” by Guinness World Data.
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It was his position on The Worth Is Proper that cemented his fame. From 1972 on, Barker’s face was a well-recognized presence within the dwelling rooms of everybody from little previous girls, to children house sick from faculty. He even had a following amongst faculty college students who claimed to set class schedules across the present.
The present’s easy format — common folks making an attempt to guess the worth of frequent family merchandise, from Windex to washing machines — appealed to followers, and the present did not change a lot over 4 a long time. Nor did the host, besides as soon as: when Barker stopped dying his hair. Seemingly in a single day, he went from darkish hair to white. It is probably the most talked-about occasions in Worth Is Proper historical past.
“The viewers simply gasped,” Barker mentioned. “And I obtained a card from a person within the Midwest. He mentioned, ‘Bob, you need to have had one hell of an evening!’ “
As a pop icon, Barker landed cameo appearances on TV reveals like Futurama and Household Man — in addition to just a few film roles. He performed himself within the 1996 film Completely satisfied Gilmore. In a single scene, Barker, a karate black belt in actual life, teaches star Adam Sandler a memorable lesson by knocking him out in a golf course brawl (video accommodates cursing).
“They have been speaking about making Completely satisfied Gilmore 2, and Adam’s physician mentioned that he did not assume Adam might take one other beating like I gave him,” Barker as soon as mentioned.
In 1994, a former Worth is Proper mannequin, Dian Parkinson, sued Barker for sexual harassment. The host claimed what he described as an “affair” was consensual and Parkinson ultimately dropped the lawsuit.
Barker used his fame to advertise one other nice ardour, animal rights. In 1988, after 21 years internet hosting the Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, Barker resigned when producers refused to remove fur coats from prize packages.
He established and endowed a basis funding spaying and neutering companies throughout the U.S., and in his later years, Barker donated massive sums to numerous legislation faculties to advertise the examine of animal rights. Every day, he ended The Worth Is Proper with the identical phrases: “That is Bob Barker, reminding you: Assist management the pet inhabitants. Have your pet spayed or neutered.”
Barker earned greater than a dozen Emmys and was twice named TV’s “Most Sturdy Performer” by Guinness World Data.
The Saint Louis Cardinals by no means knew what they missed.
